The Nubia Red Magic Mars, despite its odd name, is here and it means business. With some serious specs packed into the Android smartphone, this ZTE device is a gamers’ dream. Nubia isn’t new on the block and is a sub-brand of the more widely recognized OEM ZTE, but the company hasn’t put much out by the way of devices for a few years but it seems Nubia is back with a bang.

Launched just in time for the festive season, the Nubia Red Magic Mars takes aim directly at recently launched gaming smartphones such as the Honor Play (review) and Xiaomi Black Shark Helo. Setting this device out from the competition are two new touch-sensitive areas on the side of the phone that act like shoulder buttons you would find on a controller. A linear motor is used to create the “4D Shock” haptic feedback and there are stereo speakers with DTS 7.1 audio for an overall surrounding experience while gaming.

Nubia Red Magic Mars Specs

Jumping straight into the specs for the device, the Nubia Red Magic Mars upgrades to a Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 (10 nm) Octa-core (4×2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver) CPU with Adreno 630 GPU. The device packs a 6.0-inch LTPS IPS LCD display with a 78.3% screen-to-body ratio thanks to some generous bezels by 2018’s standards. There is no notch, which may please some – arguably those who are interested in a dedicated gaming device would prefer performance over aesthetics. The display has a 1080 x 2160 resolution with 18:9 aspect ratio and 402 pixels-per-inch. The screen is protected by Dinorex T2X-1 scratch/shock resistant glass.

Most notably on the Nubia Red Magic Mars is the massive 10GB of RAM that is offered with 256GB of internal storage. You can also get a 128GB of storage with 8GB of RAM, or 64GB of storage with 6GB of RAM.

The device is lacking on the camera front, but then if you’re buying it for gaming you probably aren’t bothered too much how the camera performs. There’s a 16-megapixel f/1.8 lens paired with an 8-megapixel f/2.0 lens on the front. Don’t mistake that these are still decent lenses, but they aren’t going to giving the Pixel 3 a run for its money anytime soon.

In terms of connectivity, the Nubia Red Magic Mars has a USB Type-C charging port with fast charging support that will see the 3800mAh battery juiced in quick time. There’s a fingerprint sensor on the rear of the device with the usual accelerometer, gyro, proximity, and compass. You’ll also get Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, and Bluetooth 5.0 support.

Nubia Red Magic Mars Price, Availability

The Nubia Red Magic Mars starts at CNY 2,700 for the 6/64GB model or Rs. 27,430, then CNY 3,200 for 8/128GB or Rs. 32,520, and CNY 4,000 for the top 10/256GB model, which will set you back Rs. 40,650.

The Honor Play has captured most of the gaming market in India and at Rs. 20,000 is much more affordable than the Nubia Red Magic Mars but doesn’t offer the specs the Nubia does. It will be interesting to see if the Nubia can make a mark on not only the gaming sector but the Android market at all, which is largely dominated by OnePlus, Huawei, and Xiaomi.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below – is this a device you’d be looking at getting?

Our resident Brit, Dan loves to write about anything tech, and has been doing so for a long time, with a personal interest for all things Android. Dan has been associated with some of the tech publications like AndroidAuthority. He loves exploring new gadgets and sharing industry insights on MySmartPrice.